Birth of a Smile...

[Note: I decided to do a happy post in hopes of negating my previous one]

Winter, the season of death. Trees are bare, animals hibernate, people are wearing black, the weather is cold and disgusting and the lack of sunlight is unbearable. After the 3.5 months are done, spring comes. Oh wonderful spring, the season of rebirth. Trees and flowers are in bloom, animals are having sex and giving birth to offspring, pastel colors, florals and prints are being worn, the weather is ideal and the sun, the beautiful sun is shining!

To get ready for spring I picked up two books. The first, A Midsummer Night's Dream. My favorite comedy by Shakespeare. The second, The Happiness Project, and it's amazing. Gretchen Rubin, author, decided to make her life that much better by starting what she called "The Happiness Project." She researched what happiness is, what causes happiness, how to be more happy and other things like that, and she tried to apply them all to her life. She decided to commence her project as her new year's resolution. Each month she would tackle a part of her life she needed to improve that would help her reach a higher level of happiness (Energy, Marriage, Friendship, Parenting, Family, things that that). She would carry each goal into the next month so in December all of them would come together.

Over the summer I'm going to do my own mini happiness project. Very excited.

Life is what you make it, so make it happy. Try so see the brighter side of things, things happen for a reason, both good and bad. Smile more often, I thing I read somewhere that you'll feel more happy if you simply smile more often you'll feel happier. Do small things for yourself! Stop thinking of others for once, put yourself first sometimes. Spend time with friends, do things you like. Listen to happy music! Music is such a big part of my life. When I listen to happy music, I become more happy. It's as easy as that.

Believe I know what I'm talking about, my friends don't call me Sunshine for nothing.

A Happiness Dream Project

To get even more excited for Spring I've decided to read A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare and The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin.

I don't think I need to explain A Midsummer Night's Dream but I must say it is my favorite Shakespearean play. I've always wanted to be Robin Goodfellow, a.k.a. Puck. I remember the first time I read it. I was a Freshman in high school and not apart of the english honors class. I went to my teacher to ask if I could have a copy of AMND and she was thrilled that I was so interested in reading it. I was one of the very few students who loved reading Shakespeare. Having only read one Shakespearean play in class before this, Romeo and Juliet, it was somewhat difficult to read but I pushed through it. That same year we went on a field trip to a theatre which was showing AMND. It was amazing. The show itself was great, but the costumes really caught my eye. The show looked like so much fun and I wanted to be a part of it.

Now, I wanted to buy books that would be very happy or funny to get me excited for Spring. So picking The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally Have More Fun was simple, it's right in the name. The book is a memoir of a woman who decided that, even though she had a great family and a successful career, she felt that something was missing. She decided to start a year-long journey to learn how to lead a happier life. Each month she tackled a different task - go to sleep earlier, bring people together, take time to be silly - along with many other goals. She read books of Aristotle, Churchill, Oprah. You get the idea. I haven't started it yet but I'm very anxious.